Gas tax: Why America is doomed

Without real action will the American dream go up in flames?

So, you don't like taxes, which makes you hate the idea of a gas tax. Furthermore, for working class Americans, a gas tax could make life extremely difficult, and it just might push the consumer driven American economy into a recession.

Nonetheless, what happens if an oil crisis irreversibly doubles the price of gasoline and other petroleum-based fuels sometime in the next few years?

Recently, I heard a statistic that America will increase its fuel consumption by at least 50 percent in just the next 20 years. At the same time, the IEA is reporting that an oil supply crunch in the next couple of years is going to make the U.S. significantly more dependent upon OPEC.

Well, isn't that great news!

Iraq is a mess that America is literally on the verge of handing over to Iran and Al Qaeda, as Iran develops nuclear weapons. Nigeria continues to unravel towards full scale civil war and Venezuela wants to partner with Iran to destroy American imperialism.

Yet cheaper oil prices are just around the corner?

Yes a gas tax will hurt, but not as bad as an unexpected foreign oil dependent driven catastrophe. So, let's use gas tax money to help Detroit build revolutionary automobiles, to help consumers buy hybrid vehicles and other clean technologies - in addition to more sensible vehicles. Plus, since a gas tax would be based upon the percent of petroleum content, biofuels would also become more cost effective.

America can choose to be proactive or reactive, but the problems caused by the politics of foreign oil dependency are only going to get worse. Will it be too late before America finally acts?